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Abstract

Technological advances have led to new and automated data collection methods. Datasets once at a premium are often plentiful nowadays and sometimes indeed massive. A new breed of challenges are thus presented – primary among them is the need for methodology to analyze such masses of data with a view to understanding complex phenomena and relationships. Such capability is provided by data mining which combines core statistical techniques with those from machine intelligence. This article reviews the current state of the discipline from a statistician’s perspective, illustrates issues with real-life examples, discusses the connections with statistics, the differences, the failings and the challenges ahead. 1